On the 25th of May, Code Pink held a mixed march/motorcade from the White House to the Embassy of Cuba demanding the redirection of war funding to healthcare, and an end to the harassment of nations accepting Cuba's doctors. The Pentagon's weapons are simply not effective in a "war" against a virus, while Cuba's physicians are.

The contrast between the Pentagon's exports of weapons and Cuba's offered export of doctors is duplicated in a comparison of progressive protesters in DC since the pandemic started vs the right-wing "reopen" protesters. Unlike the "reopen" protesters, Code Pink's marchers wore masks and stayed apart from oneanother, even the occupants of the cars wore masks. Yes, Code Pink is now masking up, against a more dangerous foe than even the cops. The same is true of the Mayday protests, the rent strike and Amazon strike protests that led up to them, and the protests nationwide demanding the release of prisoners threatened by the virus.

Another contrast is that like the Cuban doctors and unlike the Pentagon or "Reopen" protesters, Code Pink activists and other progressive protesters have consistantly worn and used devices that are actually effective against a pandemic. Against viruses, cars amount to armored vehicles whose steel deflects virus laden droplets without a scratch. Since many car windows were down(like tankers riding in open hatches in this comparison),most or possibly all the car occupants also wore masks. These masks n turn are (and have been called by healthcare workers facing shortages) armor that actually stops virus-loaded droplets, while the kevlar vests and rifles of the Koch-funded "Reopen" protesters in Michigan and elsewhere provide themwith no protection whatsoever against the virus, an enemy too small to see or shoot.

Long have protesters put on masks and armor against threats expected to be faced in the streets, what has changed is that everyone faces the same threat, so instead of cops demanding protesters unmask we see security guards at stores demanding customers mask up, and there are even videos circulating of unmasked customers being aggressively driven out of grocery stores by masked shoppers defending their own health.

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